Navi Mumbai to have CCTV code, 500 new cameras to be installed

Thane: City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has prepared a code of conduct for CCTV monitoring in Navi Mumbai to keep a tab on troublemakers at public places vulnerable to crime.

With this, Navi Mumbai will become the first city in the country to have a code of practice for closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system, CIDCO said in a release issued here. Besides, in view of the city's increasing population, about 500 surveillance cameras will be installed at railway stations, religious places, shops, malls, theatres, hotels, schools, hospitals, housing societies, industrial units, godowns, warehouses and other commercial as well as government buildings in CIDCO's jurisdiction, the release said. Currently, Navi Mumbai Police received video footages of about 250 cameras installed by the municipal corporation in its jurisdiction.

The government as well as private establishments have accepted the code, it said. The voluntary code of practice will be shortly made available on the websites of Navi Mumbai Police, CIDCO and Government of Maharashtra. The video feeds of the CCTVs will be available with the Navi Mumbai Police. The CCTV code is aimed at helping ensure that good practice standards are adopted by those who operate CCTV. CIDCO also appointed a CCTV project steering committee, under the chairmanship of state Principal Secretary for Information Technology Rajesh Aggarwal, which met representatives of various public organisations and private enterprises and discussed the guidelines and finalised them, the release said. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the project consultant to CIDCO on the project.